Texas Motor Speedway

Chase Elliott held off the field in a thrilling, wildly-popular double overtime victory in the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway Sunday afternoon to earn his first victory in 42 starts – dating back to the 2022 season.

By no means was it an easy win for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the sport’s perennial Most Popular Driver, but that’s part of what made it so special to 28-year old Georgia-native. The driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet prevailed in three late race restarts – including two in overtime – to claim his first NASCAR Cup Series win on the 1.5-mile Texas high banks and first trophy since a Playoff victory at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in October 2022.

“Oh man, it couldn’t feel any better,” said a smiling Elliott, who did a “reverse” victory lap around the track in homage to the late series champion Alan Kulwicki, whose car was also sponsored by the Hooters restaurant chain that Elliott’s car carried on Sunday.

“Couldn’t be any more grateful for this journey and the fact, it hasn’t always been fun but certainly I have enjoyed working with our guys,” he continued. “We’ve been working really hard and really well together and that’s always been fun. We’ve enjoyed the fight together.”

RFK Racing owner/driver Brad Keselowski finished a season-best runner-up in a race that lasted more than three and a half hours and had a track record 16 caution periods.

On a restart with two laps of regulation to go, Elliott and Denny Hamlin were vying for the lead side-by-side when Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota got loose and into the wall, putting the race into a two-lap overtime shootout. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain started alongside Elliott but couldn’t pass him before another caution came out a lap into overtime, forcing another restart.

On that restart, Elliott got ahead of Chastain again and took the white flag signaling one lap to go, when Chastain was tagged from behind by Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron – officially ending the race. Chastain, who led 33 laps on the day was credited with a 32nd-place finish. Hamlin, who led 37 laps, ended up 30th.

Elliott conceded the afternoon was a full-on day of drama and high competition. There were 23 lead changes among 13 drivers – seven of whom led double digit laps.

“It was crazy,” he said, “And I couldn’t be more proud of our team.”

Bryon, a three-race winner this season, was third, followed by 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Chastain’s Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suarez.

“We didn’t have a ton of speed, I was more frustrated than anything because I feel like we have a great team and we don’t have the speed to go with it and we’re doing all we can do to overcome that,” Keselowski said, adding. “So proud of the team for the pit stops, the strategy and the execution [today].”

Differing pit strategies and plenty of pit road issues played into the late race push to the checkered flag.

With 60 laps remaining Reddick pulled away to the biggest lead of the race – more than six seconds on the field, but a slow pit stop – trouble with the left rear tire – forced him into a game of catch-up. His top five was impressive considering the setback.

Similarly, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr., who has led the championship standings this year, was running up front when he had trouble on pit road – forced to make two stops on the final pit stop cycle to correct a loose wheel. He finished 14th despite the woes.

And the day’s most dominant driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson also had to rally from a setback. He started his No. 5 Hendrick Chevrolet from the pole position for the third consecutive week and led a race best 77 of the 276 laps early – winning the opening stage, only to have a right rear tire fall of his car during an early caution period.

He was penalized two laps for the tire situation – per the rulebook – and spent much of the remainder of the race trying to make up ground. He got back on the lead lap and was moving forward when he was caught in an accident with only eight laps remaining.

Larson ultimately finished 21st, but holds a 17-point edge over Truex atop the NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe finished sixth. Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon earned his best finish of the season with a seventh-place run. 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, RCR’s Kyle Busch and Spire Motorsports rookie Carson Hocevar rounded out the top-10.

Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron took the lead on a restart with six laps remaining and held off the field to claim Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 victory on a steamy-hot highly-dramatic afternoon of NASCAR Cup Series Playoff action at Texas Motor Speedway.

It marks a historic 300th victory for the championship Hendrick Motorsports organization – the most in NASCAR history for a NASCAR Cup Series team – and is the series-best, personal-high single-season sixth victory of the year for the 25-year-old Charlotte native Byron. He came from third place on the final restart to ultimately drive away from the field and take a 1.863-second victory ahead of Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain to claim an automatic berth in the Playoffs’ Round of 8 which starts in three weeks.

Those final six laps out front were the only laps Byron led all day. He turned in a fabulous final re-start in the race to pull ahead of 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, who was out front on that start after leading a race-high, career-best 111 laps in his No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota. Wallace finished third, ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin. All five drivers among the 2023 Playoff contingent.

“I finally got a good re-start at the end, and number 300 for Hendrick Motorsports, but [teammate] Kyle [Larson] really deserved this one, I’ve got to say, those guys were really fast all day and I hate it for them in the end,’’ Byron said, noting his teammate Larson’s crash while leading with 20 laps remaining.

“But man, it was awesome getting this car to the front. My car loved clean air. We just fought through traffic all day. My Liberty University Chevrolet was just tight back in traffic but had good pace. … it was a grind-it-out day and our team was there at the end and I’m really proud of this one as hot as it was, it was tough. We’ll take it and go on to the next round.”

As for the historic 300th win for his team, Byron grinned, “I don’t’ know if I can even put it into words, I was such a Hendrick Motorsports fan growing up as a kid, watching Jimmie Johnson and became really fond of Jeff Gordon as I got to know him. Just thankful for all the men and women back at Hendrick Motorsports. … just appreciate all Rick Hendrick has done for me. This is awesome. We’re really going to enjoy this one.’’

Wallace, who turned in a career day in his first career Playoff stint, was obviously disappointed in the final outcome. He started from pole position and his triple-digit laps out front were a personal best.

“Just choked,’’ Wallace said. “My worst re-start (of the day). Hate it for my team, hate it for [sponsor] McDonald’s. We deserved to be in victory lane but nothing’s ever guaranteed, you have to go out and fight for it and not give it away and that’s what I did.

“We struggled a little in traffic but kept our heads in the game, made great strategy calls all day and had track position. So good points day.’’

Larson had been out front for 34 laps and was racing alongside Wallace when his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet got loose with 17 laps remaining and flushed into the outside wall. He looked strong all day leading 99 laps himself as Wallace’s strongest competitor for most of the afternoon.

“We just went in there side-by-side and I lost it,’’ said the 2021 series champion Larson, who finished 31st. “Pretty bummed, but happy for William and Mr. H. (Hendrick) Three hundred Cup series wins is incredible and a great night overall for our organization.’’

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, Roush Fenway Keselowski driver Brad Keselowski. – also a Playoff driver, Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez, JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and SHR’s Chase Briscoe rounded out the top 10.

There were 11 caution periods on the day and multiple issues for the 12 Playoff drivers competing in this three-round series of races to decide which eight will advance to the next round. Byron’s victory is an automatic ticket. Several other Playoff drivers had impactful days – for the good and bad – as well.

Among the other Playoff competitors, RFK’s Chris Buescher finished 14th and JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. – the regular season champion – finished 17th. Defending race winner Tyler Reddick – Wallace’s 23XI Racing teammate – was 25th.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney (28th), Hendrick’s Larson (31st) and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch (34th) all suffered DNFs – all involved in incidents.

It was indicative of the afternoon with 10 Playoff drivers experiencing some sort of setback – from crashes, to pit road penalties to pit road issues.

Bell had jack issues early. Hamlin had a pit road door-to-door collision with his JGR rookie teammate Ty Gibbs but was able to continue, while Gibbs’ Toyota suffered enough damage he had to retire early.

Busch’s No. 8 RCR Chevrolet slammed into the outside wall only a couple laps after the two-time series champion had radioed to his team that he thought he had a front tire going down. He stayed out on track and ultimately suffered a rear tire failure on Lap 74, that slammed his Chevrolet hard into the wall. Busch drove it backwards all the way around the track and onto pit road, but the RCR team was unable to repair it.

“I was going to come to pit road and I second-guessed it and said, ‘I don’t think so, something’s wrong, something’s not right but it’s not a flat,’’’ Busch said. “Then all on its own, it just turned to the bottom of the race track in Turn 1, just swapped ends on me.

“Hate it for everybody. For sure I thought our car was top five today.”

With the victory, Byron earned the automatic ticket to the next round. Hamlin now leads the points standings by 37 points on the ninth place elimination line. Buescher (plus-22), Bell (plus-20), Truex (plus-19), Chastain (plus-12), Keselowski (plus-8) and Larson (plus-2) round out the top eight.

Wallace is the first driver below the elimination line – two points behind Larson. Reddick is three points off the elimination line, followed by Blaney (-11) and Busch (-17) heading to the always unpredictable Talladega Superspeedway next week for the YallaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Chase Elliott is the defending race winner.

They say everything is "bigger” in Texas and certainly NASCAR's Round of 12 Playoff opener at Texas Motor Speedway lived up to the billing. From Playoff consequences to a red flag delay to bumper-banging aggression, tire fall-off and record statistical marks, there was no shortage of competitive drama in Sunday's AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500.

Ultimately Richard Childress Racing's Tyler Reddick prevailed as race winner – taking the green flag by 1.190-seconds over Penske Racing's Joey Logano in a final 24-lap green flag run to the checkered flag. It was the 26-year old Californian's third career victory and first win on an oval after claiming trophies on two road courses earlier this season.

"We had a lot of issues today, I'm not going to lie," Reddick said with a smile, listing a number of setbacks from pit road mishaps, vibrations in his No. 8 RCR Chevrolet to holding off a hard-charging Logano, who has now taken the NASCAR Cup Series championship lead by 12 points over Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain.

"Every time we've had a strong car we've been bit by something," said Reddick, who announced earlier this season he is leaving the RCR team to go to 23XI Racing in 2024.

"This is a tough race, 500 miles here is not an easy feat and I know it wasn't easy on you," Reddick said motioning toward the grandstands. "So great to win here in a Cup car, been close here a couple times."

With the victory, Reddick becomes the fourth consecutive "non-Playoff” driver to win a race in four Playoff races of the 2022 season. Yet, there was still plenty of drama among the Playoff 12.

Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, who finished seventh, and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, who finished 10th had a literal "run-in” late in the race. Byron said he felt Hamlin ran him up on track causing his No. 24 Hendrick Chevrolet to hit the Turn 2 wall and damage his car. And in retaliation, he bumped Hamlin's No. 11 JGR Toyota during a caution that ended up sending Hamlin spinning into the infield.

"It was really hard contact," the 24-year old Byron said of the incident that put his car in the wall, adding, "I didn't mean to spin him out over there but obviously I'm pissed off and not going to get run like that. We've always raced together so well so I don't know what it was all about.

"I went to go show my displeasure. Didn't mean to hit him and spin him out. … I'm just not going to get run like that. There's really no reason. We were running second and third at the time, I think."

Hamlin, 41, took exception to the hit, and tapped his Toyota into Byron's Chevy multiple times after his infield spin. He still appeared miffed after the race

"I don't think we touched but obviously he sent us through the infield under caution," Hamlin said.

"I keep hearing these guys and I'll just add it to the list, guys that when I get a chance, they're going to get it. It just works itself out. We'll be racing each other at some point. He'll lose a lot of spots because he's racing me

"This is hard racing obviously. I'm fine with hard racing. But wrecking me under caution is not what we bargained for. I'm thankful to my FedEx Toyota team for bouncing back."

It was an action-packed racing afternoon on all levels. There were a record 36 lead changes and a record 16 caution periods – including a 56-minute red flag period for rain just after Ryan Blaney claimed the Stage 2 victory.

When the race resumed, the resulting drop in temperatures – factoring in a light rain shower and nightfall – seemed to reinvigorate the racing on track. Side-by-side racing and passes throughout the field and multiple tire issues at the front of the field.

Martin Truex Jr., along with Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott all had tire issues while leading the race

The 32nd place finish dropped the 2021 series champion from the points lead coming into Texas to seventh in points – 26 points behind new championship leader Logano now - only four points above the cut-off line heading to Race 2 of this three-race championship round at the always unpredictable Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway next weekend.

"Something came apart, I could hear it flapping on the right rear, so if it wasn't down, it was certainly coming apart," Elliott said.

"It's not a great position to be in for sure, but it is what it is now. I hate it for our No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet team. We were actually decent here for once, and that was nice while it lasted. We'll go to Talladega and try to survive over there, get a win next week and go on down the road.”

Elliott was one of a handful of Playoff drivers who had "challenging” days in Fort Worth. Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell, who came into the race ranked sixth after turning in the best Round 1 Playoff showing of any of the 12 championship-eligible drivers. He suffered tire issues that ultimately eliminated him from competition as well.

As significant, the incident dropped him to 11th place n the Playoff standings, 39 points behind eighth place Daniel Suarez with eight drivers advancing to the next round of the Playoffs

"Very disappointing weekend and I was feeling optimistic when they dropped the green flag," Bell said, adding, "It makes our decision easy on how to play Talladega. We were hoping to come out of here good and be able to ride around and just survive Talladega. We are going to have to race and get some stage points and be up front all day."

Justin Haley finished third on the day with Playoff drivers Ryan Blaney (Penske Racing) and Chase Briscoe (Stewart-Haas Racing ) rounding out the Top-5. Erik Jones, Byron, Sunday's race polesitter Brad Keselowski, reigning series champion Kyle Larson and Hamlin rounded out the Top-10.

Byron holds onto the third Playoff spot, 13 points behind leader Logano. Larson is fourth (-14), followed by Blaney (-15) and Hamlin (-22). Elliott and Sunday's 12th place finisher Daniel Suarez are seventh and eighth in the Playoff standings, both 26 points behind Logano.

Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Bell and Alex Bowman (who finished 29^th) round out the Top-12 with Bowman 56 points behind leader Logano and 30 points out of the eighth place position that would advance to the Round of 8.

Ryan Blaney won his first career NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race Sunday night at Texas Motor Speedway earning a $1 million payday in the annual fan favorite non-points event. And he and his team celebrated twice.

Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford ultimately beat Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Toyota by .266-seconds in an overtime finish. But at one point, Blaney thought he may have taken the checkered flag twice - a caution flag flew the first time he was approaching the finish line in regulation – only seconds before he crossed the line.

He and his team thought he had won the race, not realizing the yellow light was on for an incident involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the backstretch. Moments after cruising across the finish line, Blaney unstrapped the driver side window netting preparing to celebrate the big win with his team, which was high fiving one another and jumping onto pit road to applaud their apparent win.

NASCAR, however, ruled with video evidence that the caution light had activated for the Stenhouse incident on-track – yards before Blaney actually crossed the finish line.

As the cars made laps on the 1.5-mile track preparing for the overtime restart, Blaney could be seen trying to re-fasten the driver-side safety-net with one hand, steering the car under caution with the other. After finally getting the net secured, the race restarted and Blaney pulled away from the field going down the backstretch to take the checkered flag – the 26th different driver to win NASCAR’s prestigious All-Star event.

“It was about to be real bad for us, I thought the race was over," Blaney said after the race. “Everyone thought the race was over. I already had my window net down.

“I do want to thank NASCAR for letting me kind of fix it and not make us come down pit road. But yeah, that was really tough. Then having to do it all over again after trying to get that window net back up there.

"Great car, [crew chief] Jonathan Hassler, everybody on this 12-group did a great job.

“I know it’s not a points-winning race," he added. “But it’s going to be a lot of fun. Party is going to be pretty big."

The runner-up Hamlin was unhappy with the extra accommodation – the extended laps under caution - to allow Blaney to get the safety net back up and secured.

“You know, it’s tough because he deserved to win the race, but if you mess up and you break a rule – not intentionally, but there’s rules and we have rules in place for safety," Hamlin explained. “My crew chief is taking four weeks off [a penalty from a pit road infraction earlier in the season] because of safety.

“I nearly crashed him off of Turn 2 when I got squeezed there. If I send him into traffic and he’s got no window net, then what, right? Luckily, that didn’t happen."

Not only did the 28-year-old North Carolinian Blaney hoist the winner’s trophy, he certainly put in the effort on track all evening to deserve it. His 84 laps led was most in the field and he won Stage 3.

He ran up front all race and was fortunate to stay out of some early race drama involving winners of four of the last five All-Star races.

Defending All-Star race winner Kyle Larson was eliminated only 11 laps into the second stage when his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet blew a right front tire sending him hard into the wall. He nursed the car through the infield to pit road but had to retire.

Only eight laps later, Kyle Busch – who had led every lap of the race at that time (47 laps) and won Stage 1 – suffered a tire problem and slowed toward the inside of the track. Ross Chastain, who was running second at the time guessed wrong on which lane Busch would slow into and hit him on the left side, slid up the track and into Chase Elliott’s No.9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet before hitting the wall.

Busch’s pole-winning No. 18 Toyota was unable to continue as was Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet and Elliott’s Chevrolet.

“Felt like the driver of the 1-car chose the wrong lane to go," Chastain said, managing a smile as he left the infield care center. “Our car was tight all night and just managing the tightness and saw Kyle have an issue, like a tire down, and I guessed left, and I should have guessed right. Big hits.

“Tough break,” he continued, “But fast cars."

NASCAR Cup Series rookie Austin Cindric, this year’s Daytona 500 winner, finished third in this first All-Star Race, followed by Team Penske teammate Joey Logano – giving the team three cars among the top-four finishers.

Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez, who advanced out of the All-Star Open race held earlier Sunday evening, finished fifth. Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman was sixth followed by A.J. Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski and Christopher Bell.

Stenhouse Jr., Buescher and Suárez each won a Stage in the All-Star Open to advance to the All-Star Race with Petty GMS Motorsport's driver Erik Jones earning the fourth and final entry into the big show as the Fan Vote winner. It was the second time Daniel Suárez had won the NASCAR All-Star Open (2017, 2022).

The Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway had dramatic ups-and-downs all Sunday afternoon with the victorious exception of Kyle Larson, who absolutely dominated the race – leading 256 of 334 laps and holding off the field on seven different re-starts in the final 125 laps alone.

Larson's win by .459-seconds over Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron was his series best – and career best – eighth of the season and 14th of his career. Most importantly, it punched his ticket into the Championship Four at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 7 – the first time in the 29-year old Californian's career he will get to race for the NASCAR Cup Series championship trophy.

"This is unreal," a smiling Larson said. "I knew we had a good shot to win today. Our car was amazing, probably the best 550-package, intermediate car we've had all year.

"This is so cool. And we get to race for a championship in a couple weeks. This is crazy."

With a two-lap shootout to settle the checkered flag, the end of the race was dramatic up front. For much of the day, it was disastrous just behind. A 12-car incident on Lap 32 eliminated nine cars early on.

Playoff drivers Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. all suffered late race problems that impacted the championship standings with only two races remaining now to decide which three drivers join Larson in that Championship race at Phoenix.

Logano's No. 22 Team Penske Ford was sidelined after suffering a rare engine problem and both Hamlin and Truex were involved in collisions. Logano finished 30th – worst among the eight Playoff drivers. Hamlin's No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota soldiered on despite the heavy damage in two incidents and he finished 11th. Truex's No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was unable to finish the race after a hard hit in Turn 4 following a collision with Daniel Suarez. Truex finished 25th.

All these incidents were part of rapid-fire caution periods in the final third on the race; 11 on the day plus an 11-minute red flag. And on each ensuing re-start – no matter which driver was directly behind him – Larson was able to pull away and hold the lead.

"I just got good pushes from behind me, really," said Larson, who also added a series best 16th stage win.

"I tried to stay patient on the throttle to keep them to my back bumper and thankfully, I was able to just barely clear them every time going into [Turn] 1 and not have to fight off [Turn] 2.

"So thanks to William [Byron], Tyler [Reddick] and [Brad] Keselowski, anybody who was behind me, especially Brad on that last restart."

Ironically, the only member of the Joe Gibbs Racing team not still Playoff-eligible, Christopher Bell, finished best among his teammates Sunday, taking third place just ahead of Penske Racing's Keselowski and Stewart-Haas Racing's Kevin Harvick.

Penske driver Ryan Blaney, Hendrick Motorsports Chase Elliott, JGR's Kyle Busch, Richard Childress's Tyler Reddick and Trackhouse Racing's Suarez rounded out the Top-10.

"It's all about the push and I think here at Texas the shortest lane kind of wins out because of the way the track separates going into Turn 1, the Axalta Chevy was fast all day just never got control [of the re-starts]," Byron said. "I think he [Larson] was definitely better than us the first stage and I was right there with him the rest of the time, but it was just clean air basically.

"Congrats to those guys, Kyle really deserves it. They've been awesome all year, flawless on pit road and on pit calls."

Despite all the drama, the Playoff picture remains largely the same as when the drivers started the race. Larson's win locks him into the Championship Four. Blaney is second followed by Hamlin and Kyle Busch (who won Stage 1) among the top four positions.

Defending series champion Elliott is fifth, eight points behind Busch. Keselowski is sixth (-15) followed by Truex (-22) and Logano (-43).

"Just a bummer, what do you do, this is the first time we've blown a motor in a really long time," Logano said from the garage after retiring early.

"We have to move on," the 2018 series champion added. "It is what it is now. We can't change it. Not many points today, so that is a bummer. We will be fighting from here."

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to Kansas Speedway for next Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Logano won the Playoff race there last year. Kyle Busch won at the track in May. And Hamlin and Logano lead all active drivers with three wins each at Kansas.

Kyle Larson earned a $1 million paycheck and his second NASCAR All-Star Race victory in three seasons - putting on a racing master class Sunday evening at Texas Motor Speedway.

Larson was part of a frenetic three-wide move for the race lead with eight laps remaining - himself and runner-up Brad Keselowski splitting the car driven by Larson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott to make the move forward.

Larson pulled his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in front of the field and while Keselowski was able to get to his bumper a couple times thereafter, the Penske driver was unable to make a pass in the closing laps of the race.

It was a thrilling finish to a new six-segment 100-lap race format - with no NASCAR Cup Series championship points on the line, but plenty of bragging rights to claim. Larson's other All Star Race win came in 2019 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He is one of only eight drivers in NASCAR history to win multiple All Star races.

This is Larson's third consecutive victory on the schedule - counting wins at the previous two regular season races - at Charlotte and Sonoma. He has three points-paying wins and sits second in the NASCAR Cup Series championship.

"It was wild," a smiling Larson said from Texas's victory lane. "This format set up for an exciting finish and there was a lot of grip on this race track for us to be passing. It was a helluva race from my seat."

Fans in the packed grandstands apparently agreed - standing on their feet for much of the night and definitely during the final frenetic laps.

"That last restart worked out exactly how I needed it to," Larson elaborated later. "I wanted Chase [Elliott] to not get a good run down the back. Thankfully, I think the 12 [Blaney] got to his inside and I just shoved him down the back and he probably thought I was going to just follow him and I was like, ‘there's got to be enough grip where we'd be running for one corner.'

"It was a little slick up there, but I was able to get it and then hold him off from there," the 28-year old Californian continued with a smile. "I can't believe it."

Larson ultimately held off Keselowski by a scant .206-seconds. Elliott was third, followed by Penske teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney. Hendrick Motorsports' other two cars - driven by Alex Bowman and William Byron finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Byron's 30 laps out front were most on the night.

Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch and his older brother Kurt Busch rounded out the Top-10 in the 21-car field.

The new All Star race format included random inverts in three of the early stages and a pit stop contest during the race that earned a $100,000 prize for Elliott's No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team.

The final 10-lap run however, was every bit the wild and competitive flair expected for the sport's annual All Star feature. Blaney, who restarted from the second row in that segment made a daring move toward the lead at the at the final green flag dueling with Elliott and Larson.

And Keselowski briefly took the lead while he and Larson negotiated their three-wide move around Elliott, only to have Larson claim the lead right back. He led 17 of the 100 laps on the evening, most importantly the final seven.

"It feels like just to run second to the Hendrick cars right now is kind of an accomplishment," Keselowski said. "They're just stupid fast and I had him off Turn 4 but they just have so much speed. He just motored right on back by me.

"But feels like a first-in-class day with the Discount Tire Ford. [Crew chief] Jeremy Bullins and the team did a great of executing and getting us in position. We just didn't have enough speed to make the most of it, but good execution day and I'm proud of that."

Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick and Almirola advanced to the featured All Star Race by way of The Open - a 50-lap qualifier held earlier in the evening. Chastain and Reddick won stages and Almirola winning the last stage for the victory. Wood Brothers Racing driver Matt DiBenedetto advanced to The All Star race by virtue of fan vote and finished 17th.